“I think this experience really humbles the fraternity members,” said Ryan Neff, Beta Theta Pi service chairman. “It exposes them to different types of groups that they are not usually exposed to.”

MU Freshman and Beta Theta Pi member, Scott Humphrey, assists Boys and Girls Club member Nick, 10, as he puts the finishing touches on his gingerbread house.

About 28 fourth- and fifth- graders from the Boys and Girls Club attended the event. Two to three kids were grouped with fraternity members who assisted them in putting together gingerbread houses.

“I’ve never built a gingerbread house before,” Douglas, 10, a member of the Boys and Girls Club said. “I was eating the candy on my house as we built it.”

Beta Theta Pi recently made changes, such as creating the service chairman position, to increase their involvement with the surrounding community.

“My first two years in the fraternity we didn’t do enough service projects,” Neff said. “I think by having more service projects like these in the future will make our house more diverse and well-rounded.”

After completing their gingerbread houses fraternity members and their sugared-up group of boys and girls headed off to Lenoir Retirement Community for caroling.

“Having the kids interact in events like this with older fraternity members helps them to build good social skills, open up and mingle, and have that ‘big-brother’ experience,” said John Covington, director of operations at Boys and Girls Club.

According to Boys and Girls Club member, Kanisha, 9, working with her fraternity member was really fun because he kept giving her a lot of compliments on her gingerbread house.

“My favorite part of this whole experience was seeing the creativity and the enthusiasm that my kid had when building his house,” said Jimmy Hofman, 18, of Beta Theta Pi. “We have as much fun as they do at these events.”